Showing the Log in IBM SPSS Statistics

To improve your experience using IBM SPSS Statistics, the Version 1 SPSS experts have created various Tech Tips. This Tech Tip looks at showing the log in your output.   

In IBM SPSS Statistics, you can work inside a single, integrated interface to run descriptive statistics, regression, advanced statistics and machine learning models. You can create publication-ready charts, tables, and decision trees in one tool. IBM SPSS Statistics is easy to use, provides analysis automation, comprehensive statistical tools, integration with open source, and help at your fingertips. 

One of the most useful features in IBM SPSS Statistics is the ability to go from dialog boxes to syntax. You can save and automate many everyday tasks by using syntax. Users can set up an analysis in the dialog box and click on Paste. You can save syntax to a file to save and automate your work and share it with other users.  

Users may also want to see syntax in their output, adding more functionality to their work process. Syntax in output allows users to run a procedure, obtain output and copy the syntax from the output to move into a syntax file. Having the log shown in output is helpful as it provides an overview and record of the procedure and the settings chosen to produce the output. 

To show the log, go to the Edit menu and select Options. Click on the Viewer tab. Down the left-hand side are icons that represent output items. The output items are Log, Warnings, Notes, Title, Page Title, Pivot Table, Chart, Text Output, Tree Model, Model Viewer, and Unknown Object Type. 

The first item is the Log. Below this is an option to show or hide contents. To show syntax in the output, select Contents are initially Shown. Also, tick Display commands in the log at the bottom of the window. When output is run, the syntax for each procedure will appear above the output. Users can copy the output to a syntax file to save and automate their work. It’s that easy!